Sunday, January 20, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office has sought a report from officials concerned on how and why an Indian minister crossed into Pakistan territory at the Wagah border on Friday, violating all rules and regulations.

Though the Indian media is reporting it as an ‘inadvertent’ crossing into Pakistan, Indian Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh’s stroll on Pakistani soil is being seen by some diplomatic observers as a show of disrespect for Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Indian media reported that accompanied by some Indian officials, including Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, KS Pannu and some Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, Ramesh went up to the conference hall of Pakistan Rangers, about 40 yards inside Pakistan.

The government in Islamabad has taken serious view of the incident, as it does not comply with diplomatic norms. The Interior Ministry has also asked the officials concerned to submit their report about the incident.

Interestingly a similar incident took place in the early days of Pakistan when former Indian army chief General Kairiappa drove to Lahore on his jeep when another former commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, General Musa Khan, was commander Lahore. They were then brigadiers and were friends since before independence. On seeing the Indian brigadier in his garrison outside his office, Brig Musa shouted at him and ordered him to return to his soil immediately otherwise he would be arrested or shot. He reminded him that you are in an independent country which is no more part of India. On this, the Indian army officer regretfully rushed back.

Speaking of '65, I'd recently interviewed Naseerullah Babur about his experiences in the war, which prove without a doubt that General Musa was batshit crazy. His rationale for launching Operation Gibraltar was that "If you push a dog into a corner it will bite."

When the dog did finally bite, according to General Babur, Musa was in his PJs, eating breakfast and he, along with the rest of the army high command, had to be informed that India was crossing the border.

Yeah. I use the pseudonym so I can talk shit about Pakistani journalists tonight and eat lunch with them tomorrow. The 5% of them who know how to use the Internet have set Google alerts for themselves.